


Counting

by Dreadbeasts



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Ficlet, Gen, an argument about counting, elves count in base eight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 01:02:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21235556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreadbeasts/pseuds/Dreadbeasts
Summary: Rayla and Callum realize that the differences between humans and elves affects them in a surprising way: how many fingers the number ten  denotes.





	Counting

**Author's Note:**

> As soon as I heard 'elves count in base eight' this silly idea wouldn't leave me alone.

She opens her eyes to Callum holding up his hands in front of her. The image is fuzzy, and she’s not sure what happened. “Callum, wha…?” Rayla tries to sit up, but the world reels so she lays back down and holds on until the ground stops wobbling.  
  
“You slipped while we were crossing the stream and knocked your head on a log,” the prince explains. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

She blinks at him sourly, and then mentally counts up his fingers. “Twelve,” she concludes. The ground has stopped spinning and her vision is clearing up. She hopes she doesn’t have a concussion but at least she can count clearly.  
  
He withdraws his hands and frowns. “Wow, you must’ve hit your head really hard. Humans only have ten fingers.”  
  
It’s Rayla’s turn to frown. “No you don’t. I have ten fingers, you have twelve.”

He looks at her in confusion. “Uh, no, _I_ have ten. You have eight.”  
  
She rolls her eyes. “Callum, it’s basic math.” She holds up each digit in turn, as though explaining how to count to a toddler. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, ten.” She then points to his his pinkies. “Eleven, twelve.”  
  
Callum folds his arms across his chest. “What happened to eight and nine?”  
  
“Eight and what now?”  
  
He counts aloud for her, holding up each of his fingers, one through ten. She looks baffled. “So wait, how old are you?” she asks him.  
  
“I’m almost 15.”  
  
“No you’re not. We’re the same age and I’m almost 20.”  
  
“No, because then you’d be older than Soren, and you definitely aren’t.”  
  
They stare at each other for a long time, until Callum breaks the silence. “Do… do elves and humans have completely different ways of counting based on how many fingers we have?”

Rayla is quiet and stares at her hands, calculating. She then looks up at him. “Well, obviously, humans are wrong.”  
  
He just rolls his eyes. “Sure, Rayla.


End file.
